This is a history of Martin Luther King’s courageous fight for civil rights in this country from 1955 to 1968. From the beginning of his activism, he was a suspect for treason in J. Edgar Hoover’s mind. The head of the FBI grew up in the south, and maintained an attitude toward Blacks signifying that they are by […]
In this poetic documentary, quintessential documentarian Werner Herzog retraces the steps of a nomadic traveler, Bruce Chatwin, whose endless quest for every kind of strangeness in the world he could find took him to all ends of the earth. Chatwin was a British travel writer, novelist, and journalist who, by way of the short-list for
The simple nature in which actress/producer and now first time director, Swati Bhise tells the epic story of Warrior Queen Rani Lakshmibai doesn’t do history or legend justice. The script pigeonholes the film somewhere between a Disney movie and a made for classroom educational video. Bhise might not have the qualifications to send this film
The first major motion picture to explore the life of Harriet Tubman comes with a lot of expectations. Transferring the life and courage of the most famous conductor on the Underground Railroad is about finding a way to tell the complete story while balancing it with entertainment and engagement. Kasi Lemmons admitted during the world
A fascinating part of history, hypothetically a good movie, cast all wrong and handed to the wrong filmmakers. Jake Gyllenhaal was originally cast as George Westinghouse, which would have balanced the star power of Cumberbatch. Going out on a limb here and suggesting why the film feels so lopsided and told from all the wrong
Television and documentary screenwriter Ben Elton fills in the gaps of William Shakespeare’s later life with drama and intrigue. His first acting and directing gig since “Murder on the Orient Express,” Kenneth Branagh is nearly unrecognizable as the famous poet and playwright. Together Elton and Branagh present a unique dive into the lesser-known facets of
Is 76-year-old Mike Leigh’s latest film “Peterloo” the most mundane film you will see this year? Probably. Which explains why it didn’t sell at last year’s Toronto Film Festival and is only now hitting theaters seven months later. Leigh’s argument that the events of “Peterloo” are more relevant today than ever before is quite correct.
In the past, epic interpretations of the Bible like “The Passion of the Christ” or “Noah” have sought box office success on the weekend of Palm Sunday. These films are costly and often met with a divisive eye, both within Christianity and outside depending on the audience they want to reach. “Mary Magdalene” is both
The book Queen of Scots: The True Life of Mary Stuart by John Guy makes a lot of assumptions that one can only wonder if they are true or just wishful thinking. If you are able to set aside its historical inaccuracy, “Mary, Queen of Scots,” will prove a more enjoyable, diverse experience for modern audiences. For
There are endless stories from survivors and the monsters that carried out the Holocaust. For decades Hollywood has produced some of its most acclaimed films around this World War II horror. Every year it seems a handful of new mainstream, independent and foreign films shine a light on a different aspect of the tragic story. Operation